'13 money lies you should stop telling yourself by age 30'

That's more in the psychology. I think you're being way too pessimistic.

Kind of reminds me of the guy who sued his doctor because the doctor told him he was going to die in a year, so he went and blew all his money and then didn't have anything left when he actually survived.

 

Like I said in the initial post, I was terrible about keeping track of my finances those first few years, making peanuts. I had several late credit card payments, some of them 90 days or more, from the end of college. I didn't have health insurance my first year of working because, well, I just didn't sign up for it. I didn't make a conscious decision not to. I just ... didn't. I maxed out one credit card after another, but was always afraid to check how much I owed. It was ugly. I was I could go back now and see how low my FICO score actually dipped, at its lowest. I wish there was a way.

Now I watch it like a hawk. I think we were over $40,000 in credit card debt at one point. That was scary, but at least I knew.

 

Yeah that's a big one. I think ours was 400 for the shady minister, couple hundred for food and drink at the reception in our apartment. Free venue in Central Park.

That wasn't all about money. Neither of us wanted a big wedding, neither of us wanted to walk down an aisle to music, her family was half a world away, mine half a country, and we got married shortly after moving in together. But the money was a huge reason. On the other hand, with a small wedding, few guests, etc., we didn't rake in the cash as gifts. I know small isn't doable for many people, but like you said, it's not a requirement that you spend tens of thousands.

 

Normally the crappy foods cost less. I'm with IJAG on this.

 

If I thought there was no chance I'd live past 70, my reaction would probably be to try to retire by 50 instead of just giving up and committing to working every last day.

 

You have to think of it like this:

Let's say you have $100 a month "fudge factor" in your budget that can be used to do either: 1) make a 401K contribution; or 2) pay extra toward retiring your student loans. Let's further assume: 1) you're in the 15% tax bracket; 2) your student loan interest rate is 5%; 3) your company offers a dollar-for-dollar match (up to a point that, given your salary, you're not going to hit); and 4) your potential 401K investments return 0% that year.

If you go whole-hog on the 401K route, your net worth will have increased by $2,400 (your $1,200 plus your company's match). To get this increase, however, required of you $1,020, because your income tax liability will be reduced $180 by your 401K contribution. The effective return on your $1,020 investment is 135%.

If you go whole-hog on the student loan paydown, your net worth will have increased by something approaching $1,260, since you will shave an additional $5 a month in interest each month. This increase in your net worth requires $1,200 from you, so that's a 5% return on your investment.

Even if your company doesn't match, your effective return is much higher because of the reduced tax liability. Your $1,200 increase in net worth costs you only $1,020, an effective return of around 17.6%. And don't forget, this assumes that your investment has an annual return of 0%!

Finally, those low- and moderate-income contributors get additional tax credits. So your contributions reduce your income tax liability, then you get an additional tax credit.

 

Just don't forget to once you get close to retiring, get almost everything out of stocks and put it is something like a bond or property that you can rent. You want to be set and not worrying about a crash.

A lot of people will never be able to retire because they placed all their faith in stocks.

 

You're right. On a worst-case basis, your $1,200 increase in net worth costs you $1,080 (the actual cash outflows and the opportunity cost of higher student loan interest). That's an effective return of 11.1%. If, however, you're eligible for that saver's credit, that would be higher, perhaps substantially so.

 

It doesn't say that. It says $27k is the average wedding cost in the US.
I got married two months. Planned cost of $6k. Came in at $6.5k.
And it was a great time. We had fun and our guests had fun.

 

14. Money grows on trees. Or in credit cards.